Defender Brendan Galloway has returned to parent club Everton after seeing his loan spell at West Brom ended early.

The England Under-21 international made just five appearances for Albion since joining Tony Pulis’ side last summer, playing just once since September.

The Zimbabwe-born left-back, who started his career at MK Dons, made his debut at Northampton in the EFL Cup and played the consequent games against Middlesbrough and Bournemouth.

Brendan Galloway is not eligible to play for Everton’s senior side has he remains registered with the Baggies who paid £1m to take him on loan for the campaign.

Following Jonas Olsson out of the door in recent weeks, Galloway’s exit means Albion’s defence is thinner still; only Craig Dawson, Gareth McAuley, Jonny Evans, Allan Nyom and Marc Wilson are the senior backs at the club.

The Blues defender played the full 90 minutes for David Unsworth u-23s last night and set up the opening goal in their 4-1 win.

Unsworth said: “Brendan’s needed games so we thank Tony to come back in with us and have a few games, which is great.”